page_title: She Has a Name
section_title: Initial run
hierarchical_section_title: She Has a Name / Productions / Initial run
caption_attribution_description: English: Number 18 is groomed by a pimp in the Canadian play She Has a Name
context_page_description: She Has a Name is a play about human trafficking written by Andrew Kooman in 2009 as a single act and expanded to full length in 2010. It is about the trafficking of children into sexual slavery and was inspired by the deaths of 54 people in the Ranong human-trafficking incident. Kooman had previously published literature, but this was his first full-length play. The stage premiere of She Has a Name was directed by Stephen Waldschmidt in Calgary, Alberta in February 2011. From May to October 2012, She Has a Name toured across Canada. In conjunction with the tour, A Better World raised money to help women and children who had been trafficked in Thailand as part of the country's prostitution industry. The first performances of She Has a Name in the United States took place in Folsom, California in 2014 under the direction of Emma Eldridge, who was a 23-year-old college student at the time.
  The script calls for five actors to portray ten characters. The two main characters are Jason, a young Canadian lawyer; and Number 18, a young female prostitute who claims to be fifteen years old and has been a prostitute for six years.
context_section_description: The stage premiere of She Has a Name was directed by Waldschmidt, who was also the scenic designer. Aaron Krogman was selected to portray Jason and the unnamed pimp, Sienna Howell-Holden to portray Mama, Glenda Warkentin to portray Marta, Denise Wong to portray Number 18, and Cari Russell to portray Ali. Waldschmidt suggested that Warkentin audition for the play after seeing her perform at Rosebud Theatre in Rosebud, Alberta. Wong, Krogman, and Kooman spoke highly of Waldschmidt's directing, and Kooman praised Waldschmidt's work as scenic designer. Waldschmidt praised the cast's acting. He said he found the play's opening scene, in which a rape occurs, the most difficult to stage, despite having previously performed a similar rape scene as an actor. The premiere of She Has a Name was produced by Burnt Thicket Theatre in partnership with Raise Their Voice. The office of Joy Smith, MP for Kildonan—St. Paul, released a statement advertising the premiere of She Has a Name.
  The premiere took place at the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts in Calgary in February 2011. Performances were scheduled to run on the centre's Motel stage between February 23 and March 5. Tickets quickly sold out. Four days after the premiere, Burnt Thicket Theatre moved the play to the Scott Block Theatre in Red Deer, where the play was scheduled to be performed until March 12. All the performances in Red Deer were sold out. The play drew emotional reactions from the audience. Kooman learned that some audience members at the initial performances later responded to the play by talking with others about human trafficking, writing letters to their Members of Parliament, and doing other creative things on the subject. They also contacted Waldschmidt, sometimes up to a year later, with stories about how the play had continued to affect their lives. In conjunction with the initial run of She Has a Name, Burnt Thicket Theatre provided the names of organizations that assist human-trafficking victims. There was also a panel discussion about human trafficking after the matinée on February 26.
caption: The 2011 cast (left to right): Denise Wong, Aaron Krogman, Cari Russell, Glenda Warkentin, and Sienna Howell-Holden
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